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Hello all I am totally new to dual line kitting. I Just bought two kites A beetle and a mighty bug 1.0, so far I have just tried to fly the beetle. I could not keep the beetle in the sky every time I got it up it would spin uncontrollably toward the left or right which happens to be very discording. the longest I could keep it up was ten seconds. I was attempting to fly in 4 mph wind with gusts of 15 miles per hour tops. the field I was flying in was rather large (it held 3 soccer fields) it was bordered by trees but I feel that this was not the cause of the problem because had no problem getting my powerseld up . I live in IL by the lake so I'm going to try again on the beach where I hope the more stable wind will make it easier to fly. but before I tried again I wanted to see if any tips on any thing to do with dual line kitting. thanks in advance for the tipsAlso I was wondering if I made the right choices for kites to begin with?

The Beetle should be a good kite to start out with. It's a little small, and it's going to move fast, but you will be able to learn the basics from it. The Mighty bug is a parafoil, I think. If you have a helper, the bug will be easy to get flying, and they're both going to be able to do loops and figures in the air. I think the Beetle would be easier to launch if you're flying by yourself.As far as keeping the kite in the air... before you fly, make sure you bridle is symetrical on both sides, and that none of the legs of the bridle is wrapped around the spars. Make sure your lines are the same length, at least within an inch of each other. Keep your hands together, and make small hand motions when you pull turns. Fly to the top of the wind window, and make small left/right movements to get used to how the kite turns. Good luck, and have fun !

In addition to making your bridle and flying lines equal , try to fly in winds of around 8 mph and not gusty. You will be now able to control the kite much better as it will not be flying at a fast speed. Keep inputs at a minimum as it is a small kite and very responsive. Try landing by going to the edge of the wind window and walking towards the kite. You can go on " you tube " and look for learning to fly or If it is possible to find another dual line flyer nearby, who is willing to teach you the basics, you will learn much faster . Good luck ........

I have assisted many new fliers and the one thing I have noticed is getting your arms all over the place to try and force control

My rule, keep your elbows tight to your sides and only move your arms forward and back, remember that the kite will fly in the direction it is pointing when the lines are even, getting on arm over your head and the other behind you only gets you out of control.

You must also (as mentioned) be sure that the lines and bridle are equal, and verify that the left line is on the left side, and right to right, I like to mark at least on line on both ends to help keep it straight

Flying at the top of the window is great advice, and once you get the control needed try all maneuvers at higher altitude until you get good at control, then use more of the fly area.

To land, at first, go at the way to one side of the wind window till the kite stalls and drops to the ground, be sure to stake the handles and retrieve the kite soon because the wind may start flipping it from the side

Hello all I am totally new to dual line kitting. I Just bought two kites A beetle and a mighty bug 1.0, so far I have just tried to fly the beetle. I could not keep the beetle in the sky every time I got it up it would spin uncontrollably toward the left or right which happens to be very discording. the longest I could keep it up was ten seconds. I was attempting to fly in 4 mph wind with gusts of 15 miles per hour tops. the field I was flying in was rather large (it held 3 soccer fields) it was bordered by trees but I feel that this was not the cause of the problem because had no problem getting my powerseld up . I live in IL by the lake so I'm going to try again on the beach where I hope the more stable wind will make it easier to fly. but before I tried again I wanted to see if any tips on any thing to do with dual line kitting. thanks in advance for the tipsAlso I was wondering if I made the right choices for kites to begin with?

Kite choice is fine..First things first...Always carefully check to make certain that your kite is carefully set up and ready to fly.

Always carefully check to make sure that the bridle setting is correct and equal on each side and not wrapped under or around either the top spreader or spars and are both fully inserted and seated into the fittings. Also double checking that the leading edge fittings haven't shifted during that LAST SUDDEN IMPACT nose first into the ground during those first time FRIGHT FLIGHTS!!!

Making certain that BOTH FLYING LINES are exactly the same length.For example:A few weeks ago at Cannon Beach...a young couple were fussing with their kids new duel line kite and asked me to see what was wrong with their kite.They were on the verge of returning that kite to the Kite shop to get the $$$ back. FIRST THING I NOTED...was that one flying line was almost a foot longer than the other one. (This new beginner kite was from a major brand kite mfg.that included pre-cut flying lines and straps that were prewrapped on a nice little plastic winder----kinda makes ya think----Hummm? HOW'S THAT FOR A FACTORY QUALITY CHECK? DAA?NEXT ITEM.... I noted that the left lower leading edge fitting had not been pre-glued and had slipped foward from their first CRASH, which naturally would change the factory bridle setting.

I quickly slipped the fitting back into place...reset both bridle lines to match. Then we quickly pre-stretched the flying lines...and luckily got them within a barely acceptable almost the same length flying mode.

Made a quick flight check with that new little kite of theirs...and all of us were TOTALLY AMAZED at just how nice this little kite performed. Gave them a few quickie flying tips...and "how not too's...I handed that kite back to them for a fun day of flying.

A few hours later...I noticed that both father and son were having a great time down the beach the rest of the afternoon. The next day I saw that they had returned to the kite store and purchased another matching kite for another fun day at Cannon Beach.

All great info given already for the first steps. Second step is doing a full loop, many people get scared when the kite turns towards the ground, DON"T. Keep pressure on the line you pulled to start the loop until the kite does a full loop and is nose up again, then even out your hands to return to straight flight back to the top. Then do a loop in the opposite direction to take the twist out of the line. Continue doing one loop right and stop at the top, then one loop left & back to the top.

After you've got singles down do two right, two left. Then do one right, two left, one right to get the hang of keeping track of how many loops you've gotten. Increase those loops to 2x3x1 etc. always going back to straight flight at the end.

OK you've got turning control down and are comfortable with the kite being upside down now you'll want to practice partial turns, say a 3/4 loop exiting in level flight parallel to the ground. Then a half loop, again exiting parallel to the ground. Practice flight level to the ground back and forth, as you get better see how close you can get to the ground from one side to the other. This gets you very familiar with which hand will turn the kite up or down in a horizontal attitude.

Now do some 1/3 turns and fly straight diagonally, drawing some triangles in the sky.

That's about it, by this point you've gotten very comfortable with your kite, which hand you need to pull to turn up or down and avoid the ground 99% of the time. If you don't hit it 1% of the time your not taking enough risks and you won't continue to improve so don't fret those occasional unplanned landings.

Third step to practice is "Push Turns", the exact opposite of what you've been doing. Push your left hand forward to turn right then pull it back to go straight. Go through the same steps as above until that is pretty natural to you also.

By next week you'll be back asking how to do all the flippy floppy stuff

Logged

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" John W Lennon

"People do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing" George Bernard Shaw

My first kite was a Beetle and the lines were not equal. Once I found out about adjusting the length of the lines the wild turns stopped and the kite when launched went directly up to a hover. The Beetle is a solid beginner kite and has taken plenty of punishment. My son actually planted the kite into the ground and it stood vertical.

If you are new to kite flying a dvd helped me. Dodd Gross Flight School was pretty good.

I also have a Mighty Bug .5 and 1.0. Stick with the Beetle to learned the basics. The Bugs will be more difficult to learn with.

If winds were truly 4mph gusting to 15mph, I would pack the kite and pick a different day... 4 is uncomfortably light for most beginners (and most kites), and 15 is on the top edge of both - the problem is really more in the variation (as in these conditions your primary function is reacting to the wildly changing winds, and adding that to the task of learning basic flying makes for a really steep learning curve...)

wow thanks for the tips I am very surprised to have this many responses to a newbies thread thank you all for making me feel so welcome I did check the lines to make sure that they were of the same length however, I did not check the bridals. I'll make sure I do that next time.[

All great info given already for the first steps. Second step is doing a full loop, many people get scared when the kite turns towards the ground, DON"T. Keep pressure on the line you pulled to start the loop until the kite does a full loop and is nose up again, then even out your hands to return to straight flight back to the top. Then do a loop in the opposite direction to take the twist out of the line. Continue doing one loop right and stop at the top, then one loop left & back to the top.

I'm definitely going to have to try to do a loop if making sure the bridals are even does not help. when I was flying I had been trying to pull it hard to the left if it was gong to the right. so from now on I'll not fight the kite. I think that a couple of people had said to keep the kite at the top of the window and I was wondering what that means? thanks again for the tips I'll try them out next time I fly hopefully tomorrow if work is slow if not Monday or Tuesday Defiantly hopefully it spoused to be pretty windy for the next couple of days I'll update you after my second attempt

The wind window is the space left to right in front of you that the kite will fly, straight ahead is the power zone(most direct wind) the top of the window is in the power zone as high as the kite will go.

I just went out to fly my beetle and had one semi successful run I was able to keep it up for about 4 minutes before lawn darting then on my next attempt I got it up and then lawn darted it and one of my spars broke at the spreader . How ever I'm not letting that get me down. luckily I had purchased two kites and am going to go out and try to fly my mighty bug now because it can't (hopefully) be broken I'll give an up date on how it goes later

after I broke my beetle I went out again to try out my mighty bug. I found the mighty bug to be much more stable. I was able to keep it up in the air after just a few failed launches. oddly I did not feel as bad when my mighty bug crashed it made a sorta pleasant thumph noise. Other than my beetle braking it has been an overall good day I found out the the Chicago Botanical Garden was having a kiting celebration on the 8&9th and I plan to attend.

You seem to be getting things in hand at this point, and the advice given so far has been spot on. Not so much for you, I think, but for any others reading this post, I offer this addition. On beginner kites, and later on, on all kites, use all the line provided. some of the Beetles came with polyester line on handles, (don't know if this was the case with yours) and too often I see people not using all of it. The rational seems to be that the kite will somehow be easier to manage if it's closer to you, and I assure you that is certainly not the case. A beetle flies best at 50-75 ft of line, and will give you some additional time to react to situations that might result in a crash otherwise.

I'm new to dual line kites as well. I have only had my kite for a few weeks. My first flight with my new kite was with "TEMPEST" who advised you to try and find someone with experience to give you a few pointers. I met him on this forum and he offered to give me a few pointers. I had a great day. He even made lunch for my daughter and I. So make sure you make it to that kite show thing and make some friends. You can learn alot. You might even be able to try a few different kites which could help you decide what to buy next.

I don't have alot of advice to give, but check out the different manufacturer's websites. You will fine all kinds of material on dual line kite flying. Even just searching the internet for "DUAL LINE KITES", or "HOW TO FLY DUAL LINE KITES" will bring up all sorts of info. Also this forum is a great place for info as you can see above. I never new that kite lines could wistle. Thanks to the members of the forum, I now know that it is common. Now the only thing I need to figure out is how to get the green algea stains out of my lines.

Never mind I'll start a new thread.

Go back to the place you bought your kites and get that beatle fixed and stick with it and have fun.

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